Population Revision for EDEXCEL GCSE

What are the causes of world distribution?

The world population is uneven, so areas which are DENSELY POPULATE have:

• Areas rich in resources such as coal/oil- e.g. France
• good job opportunities- e.g. New York
• Low, flat , fertile land good for agriculture- e.g. Ganges Valley, India
• Areas with temperate climate good for agriculture and everyday life- e.g. Western Europe.

Areas that are sparsely populated-

• Extreme weather-e.g. Sahara 
• Inhospitable land/mountains hard to transport goods- Kunlun Mt. China
• unstable governments -e.g. Afghanistan
• Limited job opportunities-e.g--__________________________________________________________________________________

i)Population distribution                                                                                    

 ii)population density

Population density refers to the pattern of people per km2, and is the average number of people per square kilometer. The formula is:

Population density=population/area(km2) 

Population distribution is the pattern of population, such as nucleated (clustered) or sparse.

So the population density of a town/.......... is clustered around the center of the town, near  the office, shops etc

Sparsely is when the population of a town/............. is very low  so maybe outside the town as it is far away from the noisy city , but also far away form the office, shops etc

Why is population growing so rapidly?

The main reason for a growth in population due to the reduction in death rates in LICs, because of medicine, sanitation, clean food and water.

The UN predicted there will be 9 BILLION people in 2050

60% in Asia                   9% in South America

20% in Africa               7% in Europe

__________________________________________________________________

Define Birth rates(BR)and Death rates(DR).

Birth rate- The number of live babies born per 1,000.

Death rate- Number of people who die per 1,0000

Natural increase is calculated by :

Natural increase(%) =  BR-DR

                             10

Medical- New treatments are continually being made to combat disease, leading to longer lives(higher life expectency), which decreases child morality, so parents have less children, knowing they will survive into childhood.

Economic-Costly to bring up children, typical family pay up to $186,032 from birth to the age of 21. People do not want to change their lifestyle,miss out on holidays for a baby.

Social-Educating women encourages them to a have a full time job. Which raises the bar of child bearing age.1930s average marriage age was 24 , in 2001 it was 30.

Political- Many governments, such as India & China have introduced family planning because the governments believed the population was too big. Governments like France and Singapore are using incentives to encourage people to have babies because the government  is worried about an ageing population.

Demographic Transition Model

No country left @ this stage. Birth rate & fluctuates(Changes, rising then falling) Only restricted to Amazonian Tribes, and really poor regions.

This is due to :-

• Little or no access to birth control
• High infant mortality
• Children economic benefit/Asset, they help earn money.
• Death rate high especially among children, due to diease, famine, diet, poor hygiene & little medical science. 

This stage is the most rapid population growth, common in LIC's such as Ghana and shows development. Death rates fall because of :

• Improvements in medical care
• improved sanitation
• improved food and water supply
• Quality of life and food has improved
• transport and communications improve